Tuesday, August 27, 2013

It's good to be the King....

It's good to be the King....

Let me tell you a tale, a tale so fair.......wait hold up,this is a gamers blog...none of that! Ha-ha! Hey all it's Zil back again to fill your brains full of..oh who knows what but i'll try and make it entertaining! This week the King reference has nothing to do with large predatory animals or make believe monarchs. It has everything to do with what is it that makes one game successful and last over others and does WildStar have that "thing"?

MMO's have come and gone or gone stale and static but most rarely elevate to a level of unimaginable size. I will name this in this case as a valid comparison, World of Warcraft(Yup I said it)is the number one example of a successful MMO. Arguements aside I do not hate the game. I played it many years,had good times and bad and eventually grew tired and bored and deemed it was time to move on. Enough about me personally though, why I bring this up is it's successfully maintained over 7 million subscribers for a large number of years,no other MMO has ever had those numbers and only a couple other pc games can say the same.

Now WoW has a number of things that possibly have that steady-ish flow of subs, good solid controls. Decent stable lore and story, all the core components in place for pve/pvp/crafting/socializing. There's good and bad but in a stable sense it's as strong as any out there. Some say it's become a place where people play because they are used to it or all their friends play so they must. Gamers are fickle and if they "really" didn't wanna keep playing they will not. SO something concrete holds many there despite the theorizing out there.

In recent years many games have popped up and maybe did enough but nothing spectacular. No matter the subject matter,good voice over work, good story, or fun with friends. These titles tend to focus on making amazing 1 or 2 items revolutionary but ignoring or neglecting the rest of the needed aspects. MMO gamers are fickle as i've said, I may not be a huge pvp or crafting player but if those aspects are bad or missing I feel slightly jipped. It's called balance and whether in nature, the force, or MMO's it is needed.

Moving forward to next Spring when WildStar is launched, I know at least from what i've scoured over all the classic and modern aspects of an MMO are present in the game, solid lore-great npcs-questing-heavy crafting-dungeons-battlegrounds-professions-raids are all there as well as more new concepts of Paths/Warplots/Instant adventures all end game goodness to keep people busy. It's interesting-funny-and new, yes new. Some say that could be a hinder being an original IP but I say it's all fresh!

I think the key pieces are there. Skillful execution and continued interactivity with the players/community and this game could definitely break through the wall many MMO's seem to hit. Will it topple a giant like WoW, I won't say because any answer is likely wrong,but can it be a great, fun, and above all an "experience" basically what we've lacked in an MMO in a very...very...long time. Roleplayers may always immerse themselves into their worlds, but for the rest of us it takes alot to lose yourself to the point where time vanishes and then you feel connected to that game.

We'll see in time and until then just keep being a great community among eachother and when WildStar launches we can forge it bit by bit into perhaps a "king" among the masses.:)